BAIDU Inc, which operates China's most popular search engine, yesterday said its latest quarterly profit rose 80 percent as strong growth in usage of its site helped drive advertising revenue higher.

Profit for the three months ending on September 30 was US$295 million, or 84 US cents per share, the Beijing-based company said. Revenue rose 85.1 percent to US$654.7 million.

The company cited strong growth in user traffic and spending by advertising customers. "Spending by large customers significantly outperformed our expectations," Chairman and CEO Robin Li said in a statement.

Baidu also forecast stronger growth, saying it expects revenues in the current quarter to rise by up to 85 percent.

Baidu has steadily increased its market share since Google Inc closed its search engine on the Chinese mainland in March 2010. Baidu had a 75.9 percent market share in the three months ending in June, up from 64 percent in the first quarter of 2010, according to Analysys International. Google's share has declined from 30.9 percent to 18.9 percent but it still is well ahead of Sogou, with 2.4 percent.

China has the world's most populous Internet market with more than 485 million people online by the end of June.